Health Care Politics

We are all affected by decisions being made in Washington about our health care system. I have outstanding health insurance because I have been blessed, to date, with excellent health. My wife has excellent coverage through her employer. We are in transition into retirement and many of our hopes and dreams for a happy and prosperous retirement depend on good health and affordable health insurance.

There is a part of me that says "don't mess", "keep the status quo", "leave it alone", "if it ain't broke...", and other phrases aimed at my self indulged benefit. Overwhelmingly, however, I know this isn't right. There are millions of people that can't afford health insurance. There are millions of children that don't get proper health care in our country. There are other millions that don't qualify for coverage because of pre-existing conditions. There are still others that have lost coverage due to changes in employment or dropped coverage by an employer trying to make ends meet.

President Obama is a good, bright, compassionate man. I voted for him not just because he was the best of two candidates but because he has a vision for a better America. I truly believe that he is just what America needs and has potential to be one of our great Presidents. One of his core values and agenda items is health care reform. This comes from his heart and experience. This comes form his interaction with thousands of Americans who have communicated with him about this issue.

There are days that I am angry at the people on the right who are opposed to his ideas simply because of their political party affiliation, because of their self indulgence or because of their bigotry. The effort to gain political advantage, the politics of hate, and the effort retake points in the polls are threatening the President's effort to aid the Americans that need it most. They are doing it with fear tactics via misleading television ads and the right wing talk radio circuit. We need to keep an open ear and clear mind at this important moment in history.

It is time to reform our health care system and to expand health insurance coverage for all Americans. A government run option, elimination of the pre-existing conditions exclusion, an effort to lower health care costs, a cap on medical liability lawsuits, creation of research-based health care standards, electronic record keeping and taxing the highest earning Americans as way to pay for it are all reasonable to me.

In the upcoming months there will be major efforts to minimize or kill this effort. For America's sake, I hope those efforts fail and Congress will deliver on a forward thinking health care reform bill.